The Toxic Legacy of Martin Peretz’s New Republic (w/ Jeet Heer)
Current Affairs17 Jul 2024

The Toxic Legacy of Martin Peretz’s New Republic (w/ Jeet Heer)

Get new episodes early at patreon.com/CurrentAffairs !

Jeet Heer has written two major essays about the intellectual legacy of the New Republic magazine’s 70s-2000s heyday. The first, from 2015, excavates the magazine’s history of racism and its role in Clinton-era “welfare reform” and in pushing Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s The Bell Curve into public consciousness. The second piece, published recently, looks more broadly at the career of New Republic owner Martin Peretz: his racism, his hawkish foreign policy, and his role in creating the conservative “New Democrats” of the 1990s, who abandoned FDR-era liberalism.

Jeet joins us today to tell us more about why this magazine once mattered, and the enormous effect that such a small publication and a single man have had on the politics of our time.

"[Peretz's New Republic] promoted many of the worst decisions in modern American history: the killing fields in 1980 Central America, the invasion of Iraq, the downgrading of diplomacy and preference to military solutions in foreign policy, the neoliberal economics that have fueled inequality and instability, the brutalization of the Palestinians, the revival of scientific racism, and the persistent whittling down of the welfare state." - Jeet Heer

Episoder(600)

Current Affairs News Briefing ❧ January 21, 2026

Current Affairs News Briefing ❧ January 21, 2026

Climate change is sinking posh London homes, pro-Palestine protesters face felony charges, Ugandan president cuts internet during election, Trump’s new Board of Peace, and Nike’s tone-deaf MLK Day bas...

22 Jan 6min

Ed Wood and the Politics of Bad Taste (w/ Will Sloan)

Ed Wood and the Politics of Bad Taste (w/ Will Sloan)

Will Sloan is a film critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star. He is the co-host, with Luke Savage, of the podcast Michael and Us, which examines poli...

21 Jan 43min

The Coup In Venezuela Is An Assault on the Whole World

The Coup In Venezuela Is An Assault on the Whole World

Donald Trump's overthrow of Nicolás Maduro sets a terrible precedent that severely erodes international sovereignty. Can other countries depose any leader they accuse of a crime?🇻🇪 Read the article:...

6 Jan 18min

How Zohran Mamdani Defeated the Democratic Establishment

How Zohran Mamdani Defeated the Democratic Establishment

In the fall of 2024, Zohran Mamdani was a long-shot challenger taking on New York City’s political establishment. Today, he’s the mayor. In this early interview with Current Affairs, recorded shortly ...

2 Jan 31min

Michael Pollan Is Lying to You About "Ethical" Meat

Michael Pollan Is Lying to You About "Ethical" Meat

John Sanbonmatsu is a professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves.The book is a response...

1 Jan 40min

What the Government Shutdown Actually Revealed for Democrats (w/ Ettingermentum)

What the Government Shutdown Actually Revealed for Democrats (w/ Ettingermentum)

Joshua Cohen is a political theorist and writer of the Ettingermentum Substack: an exceedingly thorough and insightful resource for anyone hoping to understand what the hell is going on in American po...

27 Des 202550min

Gaza, Ukraine, and Why Trump’s "Anti-War" Rhetoric Is a Lie (w/ Medea Benjamin)

Gaza, Ukraine, and Why Trump’s "Anti-War" Rhetoric Is a Lie (w/ Medea Benjamin)

Medea Benjamin is an anti-war activist and one of the co-founders of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She’s spent decades fighting the American military-industrial complex, organizing protests against the i...

19 Des 202547min

Candace Owens and the Decay of the American Brain

Candace Owens and the Decay of the American Brain

How can someone so delusional attract an audience of millions? What does it say about us that Owens is listened to by anyone other than a psychiatrist?🧿 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.o...

16 Des 202528min

Populært innen Humor

papaya
rss-spartsklubben
enkel-servering
harm-og-hegseth
storefri-med-mikkel-og-herman
tore-og-haralds-podkast
tusvik-tnne
topp-3-med-wold-og-fladseth
ma-pa-behandling-med-morten-ramm
folk-flest-med-linn-og-nils
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
misjonen-med-antonsen-og-golden
wolfgang-wee-uncut
hanna-de-heldige
jan-thomas-og-einar-blir-venner
rss-snorre-med-gaute
verdens-verste
rss-det-alle-snakker-om-med-siri-og-kim
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
gutta-backer